A total of 5.2GW/13.8GWh of grid-scale BESS capacity came online in January 2025, of which over two thirds was in China.
That’s according to the latest figures from market intelligence firm Rho Motion’s Battery Energy Stationary Storage Monthly Database, and the firm said the figure is the highest for January on record.
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There is now 150GW/348GWh of globally installed capacity, according to the database, which focuses on grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Its data showed 3.9GW/9.52GWh coming online in China over the course of January, accounting for 68% and 75% of the global MW and MWh figures respectively. The largest project to come online there was the 300MW/1,200MWh Zhangjiakou Chabeiguanliqu Storage Project in Hebei.
That continues the same theme of Chinese dominance of global deployments seen in 2024, when it accounted for 67% of the 160GWh that came online according to Rho Motion’s data.
The largest single project to come online in January 2025 globally was the 500MW/2,000MWh Bisha BESS in Saudi Arabia. That project alone means that Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region contributed 10/14% of the global MW/MWh figures in January.
“The Middle East, in particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are building out impressive pipelines of BESS projects, displaying some of the highest annual growth rates as a region (albeit from a low base),” Rho Motion added.
The Bisha project was built with primarily Chinese technology contractors, namely engineering procurement and construction (EPC) firm PowerChina Hubei Engineering and EV and BESS provider BYD for the BESS technology.
The Rho Motion February database saw number of projects increase to 6,500, and the global project pipeline for the next two years has increased to 748GWh, the firm added.
Europe meanwhile accounted for around 4% of BESS deployments in January, with 240MW/470MWh of capacity coming online. The largest in Continental Europe to come online in January was a 10MW/40MWh BESS in Netherlands, commissioned by owner S4 Energy, made up of Tesla Megapacks.
Energy-Storage.news published a monthly update on grid-scale BESS in the UK separately two weeks ago.
North America meanwhile saw 470MW/1,290MWh come online in January 2025, around 10% of the global figures. California and Texas have typically dominated the US and North American markets, and will continue to do so, but other states look to be catching up thanks to a mix of increased renewable energy generation and state mandates for storage procurement.
Rho Motion says: “In North America, the strongest pipelines for the full year are in California and Texas, representing 61% of planned capacity for the year. However, 2025 looks to be a diversifying year for state deployments of BESS, with Wisconsin, Oregon, Minnesota, Idaho, Indiana and New Mexico collectively set to deploy just under 9GWh of new capacity this year.”
